Last updated on 07/16/04

While DNC Gets Attention, Asian Republicans Quietly Gaining Momentum in Massachusetts

By Sam Gaynor

On August 30, Joe Wong will be in New York City at the Republican National Convention, finally receiving recognition for the work he has done over the past five years with the association of Asian Republicans of Massachusetts. He will be the association's Massachusetts delegate at the Republican National Convention.

Despite taking part in the convention, Asian Republicans of Massachusetts still face many challenges, said Wong. Coming from a highly Democrat state such as Massachusetts, the group, according to Wong, has rarely gotten the support and acknowledgment that a new political volunteer organization needs for success.

"In Massachusetts you don't get anything for being a Republican," said Wong.

Yet Wong is optimistic, citing that members of his group are all "true believers who have more heart than any other group." And it is exactly this optimism that carries Wong's efforts to promote the group throughout the state.

"Our efforts are ceaseless," said Wong, who meets with members of the Vietnamese and Cambodian Republican coalitions regularly, as well as with members of the Dorchester and Springfield communities.

Asian Republicans of Massachusetts started in 1999 as the result of Wong's longstanding hope to have a balance between the Democrat and Republican party representations in Massachusetts.

"I was personally inspired by former Governor Weld's first [gubernatorial] election¡KI felt that it gave a rise to my hope that this state would no longer be dominated by one party. The reasons why we Asians are in America today is because we voted with our feet, and all I did [in establishing Asian Republicans of Massachusetts] was carry on those same characteristics into a different realm."

Beyond Wong's hope to bring balance to local politics is his love of the Republican Party, something that pushed him when establishing the association.

"The Republican party is all about two things: balance and accountability," said Wong, "and I wanted to have Asian Americans become a part of that. No other country is as political as the United States. Once you become involved in the political process we have here, you become Americanized. That is the true aim of our organization: to get Asian Americans involved in the political process."

Getting Asian Americans involved in the political process is just what Wong's group has done over its five-year tenure. The group recently found success in this goal when it began supporting Greer Tan Swiston in her run for state representative in Middlesex County's 11th district against incumbent Democrat Kay Khan. A former software engineer, Swiston is a Canton native and graduate of MIT.

Whichever way District 11 votes on November 2, Wong knows that his backing of the Republican party in the Asian American community is finally starting to show serious signs of progress.

"We are hoping that Swiston's candidacy will galvanize and inspire other Asian Americans to do likewise. Her candidacy is a symbol of our hard work."